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I know someone that's reading Atonement at the min. She wasn't keen on the first part as she found it somewhat pompously written and patronising but she's starting to enjoy it now. I'm keen to read it myself eventually.
Ooh, Lori Lansen's The Girls, that's really good, i read that last summer. Currently I'm reading Stephenie Meyer's Twilight a third time (i only got it maybe 2 weeks ago, so i must love it :-p ).
I'm just enjoying my way through three Sue Grafton 'Kinsey Millhone' private eye books that were bundled together for a fiver! A fiver well spent, I say! My only regret is that she apparently got fed up writing them when she reached 'S' in the alphabet series - I want more!
I want to read that, as well, Robin. And I know what you mean about life getting in the way. I have bookmarks in several books but haven't managed to finish half as many as I'd planned for this year so far. Bugger.
Following an earlier discussion on another thread about Dawkins the athiest, just wanted to mention a very good book I found in the library which is a rebuttal of Dawkins' opinions. It's "Dawkins' God" by Alister McGrath. Nice to see there are some open minded scientists around.
Am now reading The Medici Secret. Not far into it yet but enjoying it. I've read about the Medici family before and enjoy stuff about the Renaissance so that adds interest to it for me. Also bought Bill Clinton's autobiog yesterday. I've read Hillary's so I've got the matching set now! :-D
Just started reading China Through the Sliding Door by John Gittings. It's a series of articles he wrote for the Guardian over the years from 1968 to 1998 (the book was publised in 1999). Very interesting.
Recently read a couple of Elmore Leonard's: Rum Punch and Mr Paradise. They were very entertaining, and I'll be dipping into some more of his stuff.
I started Updike's Rabbit Run; a quarter of the way through it was getting a bit depressing so I'm reading Banks's Consider Phlebas alongside it. First time I've read any SF in years; it's good fun.
Ok Blood is the New Black was good but I didn't like the ending. Now reading 'And then we Came to the End'. Great title and its on the bestsellers list. Anyone read? So far I'm finding it difficult to get into but that's maybe just with being busy, it is funny.
I am reading and enjoying the Hornblower series by CS Forester...i have just started reading Hornblower and the Hotspur, # 3.
I find that CS Forester wrote really well and if i hadn't looked up his name on the internet i would have thought the books were written only a few years ago! Its so easy to read.
Jemma, if your sister wanted to find the rest of the books, I'd recommend www.abe.com which is a marketplace of all secondhand bookstores. That was how i managed to get the unabridged, unedited editions of Enid Blyton books (the monsters in government took the circus scene out of Circus of Adventure in case it make kids do stupid things!!!!) I'd bet someone there would have all Susan Coolidge's works.
my sister has all my enid blyton books...i loved them all...naughty amelia jane and the magic faraway tree and all the cute short stories for bedtime etc...hee...i also liked the stories with loony the dog and barney and the kids...the ragamuffin mystery etc...loony was based on her own dog!!!! mom owns the life story of enid blyton...really facinating...
I've just finished reading The Equivoque Principle by Darren Craske (fellow TBer Daz).
Thanks Daz I enjoyed it. It was an entertaining read. I do hope you are able to get the next book in the series published.
I've just started The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak and The House at Riverton by Kate Morton. The Fastest Way to Write Your Book by Dave Haslett has just arrived through the post today so I will dip into that when I have a spare moment.
Tescopoly by Andrew Simms, at the moment. I already avoid big supermarkets (especially Tesco's) and will continue to avoid them. A friend once asked me why when I said Tesco's are evil incarnate - one day when we both have a bit more time, I'll tell him. All hail Riverford organic vegbox - their scheme (and others like it) means one in the eye for big corporate monsters. Careful, one and all - Big Brother really is watching.
I'm now reading Shatter by Michael Robotham, its one of the best crime novels I've read in a long time. I read its review in the Times last week, and sounds like it going to get even more amazing. I can't believe this is his third book and I managed to miss him!
Browsing some old Grantas to keep me going this week. Then I have to decide which book to travel with next weekend (that I don't want to keep). Tough decision because good books are like gold dust here - no local bookshops - and both OH and I hate to lose books from our precious collection.
I'm reading Frank Gardner's biography "Blood and Sand" - much more interesting than the average journo / foreign correspondant bio, probably because he took up journalism relatively late on.
Also listening to Jane Austen's "Persuasion" whilst gardening/chopping veg/ironing etc. This is a free MP3 download from Librivox. It's years since I read her, and it's just wonderful, wonderful writing you don't want to put down. I've become quite a fan of audiobooks and there's loads of free classic stuff on the web. Almost makes me want to get the ironing board out!
Unusually for me I'm not reading a novel but finished Linda Newbery's "Set in Stone" last week - a pretty good story, but spoilt for me by a barn-door obvious ending.
oh wow Jemma! i've kept my favourites of the Enid Blyton books....the books with Barney, Snubby, Diana and Roger were my favourites too :D Rockingdown Mystery made my eyes misty when they found out what'd happened to the children in the house!
The Adventure series with Island of Adventure, Castle of Adventure etc were the second favourites, and then the Children of Green Meadows was my third fond favourite.
As for now reading....I finally tracked down a copy of Good Wives so i can read the chapter Valley of the Shadow...a friend has been saying how pivotal that book is to the series and have finished the book about the real Calendar Girls. Did you know that the postman in the film is the actual postman in the village> he honestly knew all the month girls by their names so that he could take their fan mail to them each!
I'm reading 'Mort' by terry Pratchett. I thought it was very profound of him to ask why the sun comes out during the day when the light would be of much better use at night time.
A Thousand Splendid Suns it is a compelling book, I have been reading it until the early hours. I cannot believe the deprivations the women of Afghanistan have had to endure.
Have you read The Kite Runner, too Darter? Also excellent.
Me - Making History - Stephen Fry , The Naked Man - Desmond Morris, The Age of Shiva- Manil Suri
(wondering why 3 at once ? Stephen Fry, morning with first tea and coffee, Desmond Morris- various spare moments in daytime, Suri - bedtime ! Does anyone else do this kind of thing?)
Lexia - No I haven't read Kite Runner but I have heard good reports about it.
I have also just finished The Voyage of the Arctic Tern by Hugh Montgomery. It is supposed to be for children and it is all in verse, I thoroughly enjoyed it - perhaps because of the references to Plymouth and surrounding coastal areas.
yep i like to read about 3 books at the same time too. paramedic's diary at the same time as Twilight by Stephenie Meyer at the same time as How to Write For Children and get published by Louise Jordan. now that i've finished paramedic's diary i'm onto Good Wives fresh from the bookstore. (had to go across county to find it so i'm holding onto it for a few years at least :p)
Yes Lexia, I have 2-3 books on the go at once, in different places!
Currently a Penny Vincenzie on my bedside table, Restoring Grace in the lounge, Tess Gerritsen's Body Double lives in my handbag for commuting, and something else at work for lunchtimes! I've done it all my life! :-)
Just finished Kelley Armstrong's 'No Humans Involved', (the seventh out the eight) I thoroughly enjoyed it and the thing I like best about it is that it is written in one of the big NoNO's! Mixing third person with first...it works really well. so whoever said it should not be done was basically wrong.
I'm currently struggling with Dean Koontz's the Darkest night of the year...as a long term fan...I am at a loss as to why I can't get into it.
Davaris, I love Terry Pratchett. My fav. is soul music, but I haven't really read much of his newer stuff, despite buying all the books.
I am at the moment reading Saturday by Ian Mcewan, just 15 pages in. V good if a little too much surgical description.
Just finished a quiet belief in angels by r.f. ellroy and I can say without any qualms it is an absolutely compelling read, if some of the material is not the nicest, and I could hardly put it down, butr when I did it was easy to pick up.
how come, every single time i click on this thread it takes me to a black page 10? i have to go back to page 9 and then page 10 again...really annoying..
Just about to start The Tao of Gung Fu by Bruce Lee - it was unfinished when he died, and has been edited recently. He was such a legend as a martial artist (that nearly read marital artist!!!), so it will be interesting to explore his philosophies.
My favourite book of all time is To Kill A Mockingbird, I also liked Daphne Du Maurier and Jamaica Inn -so my son is called Jem. Loved the Kite Runner recently. But I've just been to our book group here in the village and tonight we were discussing our all time favourite book we have read in the group, and everyone voted for The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint by Brady Udall (my choice!!)
I've been reading Dissolution by C.J. Sansom. I quite enjoyed it. He was good on the historicity, making a good job of plonking you down in the Reformation, but the plot is a whodunit, which is not really my bag. I'll probably get around to reading the next one in the series at some point. I've also been listening to a Treasure Island audio book. The reader did a fairly decent Long John but his Jim Hawkins was curiously wimpy.
I'm currently reading "Rabbit, Run" by John Updike and listening to It by Stephen King.
Comments
Am now reading The Medici Secret. Not far into it yet but enjoying it. I've read about the Medici family before and enjoy stuff about the Renaissance so that adds interest to it for me. Also bought Bill Clinton's autobiog yesterday. I've read Hillary's so I've got the matching set now! :-D
I started Updike's Rabbit Run; a quarter of the way through it was getting a bit depressing so I'm reading Banks's Consider Phlebas alongside it. First time I've read any SF in years; it's good fun.
I also received Granta 101 last night so have been flicking through that as well.
Oh and a book about the artist Edward Hopper.
And Money, by Martin Amis.....
Yep...that's about it.
Oh, EmmaB. I just read the Joshua Ferris one and found it hard to get into as well. It's not bad, worth finishing.
I find that CS Forester wrote really well and if i hadn't looked up his name on the internet i would have thought the books were written only a few years ago! Its so easy to read.
Thanks Daz I enjoyed it. It was an entertaining read. I do hope you are able to get the next book in the series published.
I've just started The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak and The House at Riverton by Kate Morton. The Fastest Way to Write Your Book by Dave Haslett has just arrived through the post today so I will dip into that when I have a spare moment.
Also listening to Jane Austen's "Persuasion" whilst gardening/chopping veg/ironing etc. This is a free MP3 download from Librivox. It's years since I read her, and it's just wonderful, wonderful writing you don't want to put down. I've become quite a fan of audiobooks and there's loads of free classic stuff on the web. Almost makes me want to get the ironing board out!
Unusually for me I'm not reading a novel but finished Linda Newbery's "Set in Stone" last week - a pretty good story, but spoilt for me by a barn-door obvious ending.
The Adventure series with Island of Adventure, Castle of Adventure etc were the second favourites, and then the Children of Green Meadows was my third fond favourite.
As for now reading....I finally tracked down a copy of Good Wives so i can read the chapter Valley of the Shadow...a friend has been saying how pivotal that book is to the series and have finished the book about the real Calendar Girls. Did you know that the postman in the film is the actual postman in the village> he honestly knew all the month girls by their names so that he could take their fan mail to them each!
Me - Making History - Stephen Fry , The Naked Man - Desmond Morris, The Age of Shiva- Manil Suri
(wondering why 3 at once ? Stephen Fry, morning with first tea and coffee, Desmond Morris- various spare moments in daytime, Suri - bedtime ! Does anyone else do this kind of thing?)
I have also just finished The Voyage of the Arctic Tern by Hugh Montgomery. It is supposed to be for children and it is all in verse, I thoroughly enjoyed it - perhaps because of the references to Plymouth and surrounding coastal areas.
Currently a Penny Vincenzie on my bedside table, Restoring Grace in the lounge, Tess Gerritsen's Body Double lives in my handbag for commuting, and something else at work for lunchtimes! I've done it all my life! :-)
Then we Came to the End was quite good in the end actually. Just required patience I think
I'm currently struggling with Dean Koontz's the Darkest night of the year...as a long term fan...I am at a loss as to why I can't get into it.
I am at the moment reading Saturday by Ian Mcewan, just 15 pages in. V good if a little too much surgical description.
Just finished a quiet belief in angels by r.f. ellroy and I can say without any qualms it is an absolutely compelling read, if some of the material is not the nicest, and I could hardly put it down, butr when I did it was easy to pick up.
I would like to echo Josie's (I hope I got her name right) words nd sentiment.
My thoughts go out to Terry and his family and I look forward to many more years of being entertained by the discworld.
I'm currently reading "Rabbit, Run" by John Updike and listening to It by Stephen King.
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Regards
Jon